Technology Predictions for the future?

[Skorpio]

What are your hot takes on breakthroughs that could be just around the corner? How do you think they will impact humanity? Are they a cause for hope or despair?

There is so much exciting stuff just around the corner, but some of the potentially mostly influential that i think could happen in my lifetime are, IMO:

-quantum computing. would revolutionise many areas of science where we are currently limited by the fundamental efficiency of classical computers, even huge supercomputers.
-human germline editing. scary but i think it will become widespread. there have already been some designed embryos, i don't recall whether they were implanted and carried to term. i hope this can be used as a force for good but i don't have enough faith in humanity to think it will be.
-discovery of alien life. i don't care if its a single celled organism it would just be awesome and a huge opportunity to learn. tbh i'd be a bit scared if we contacted intelligent life.

what would you add to the list?

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Organic chemistry is likely to get more and more automated.

I am not yet predicting "auto synthesis machines" where you draw a structure and it spits out a product with optimized reactions, but there are a lot of steps of medicinal chemistry that are becoming much higher throughput and much more automated.

I expect to see more modular carbon-carbon coupling reactions that will simplify retrosyntheses and decrease the range of precursors needed by a lab. There has already been tremendous progress recently with some strategies, and i expect them to become more widespread and powerful.

Second, i expect automation to allow for high throughout screening of reactions in a much more timely manner, performing the reactions and analysis of the products autonomously.

Finally i predict more techniques that utilize transient extreme states such as cavitation bubbles formed during sonication to perform reactions that formerly needed harsher conditions with gentler reactants.

All and all, I expect chemists to be spending more of their time doing higher level tasks and automation taking over a lot more of the grind.

 

[Jabberwocky]

yes to automation!! taking over the grind is the way forward.

i hadn't thought about it for chemistry but it makes sense that it could be applied effectively there. in biosciences 'lab on a chip' technologies aren't quite there yet afaik but they're improving all the time.

using transient extreme states would be awesome, got to be very difficult to get sufficient control to make them useful, very impressive if we can do it.

 

[arrall]

I am not yet predicting "auto synthesis machines" where you draw a structure and it spits out a product with optimized reactions,

I can't wait until we have those. Hopefully by the end of the century.

 

[thujone]

I'm worried about the possibility of a bioweapons arms race, though I am optimistic about gene sequencing USB dongles and the democratization of biotech. I get the feeling that within ten years we could have some sort of homemade biotech kit that is sort of akin to the 3D printing boom today.

I'm also looking forward to the power generating potential of perovskites, which sounds like a very promising development in photovoltaics. Basically, the premise is that it's cheaper and more sustainable than current PV products, and it's also more flexible and capable of greater efficiencies.

 

[Nas47]

Hard to make any predictions these days.Pandemia-two years.After than terrible war in Europe,climate changing,economic instability...Trying to focus on day by day surviving.But we all living in very unpredictable,turbulent times.

 

[andyturbo]

THE SINGULARITY..

Its not a question of if...
But when..and its gets getting damn close..


upload image to url

 

[Nas47]

Quite interesting and heard avout this theory.Would definetely check

 

[simstim]

I predict the fulfillment of William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Particularly the part about the USA being run by the Yakuza and all classes of drugs being widely available to the general public as transdermal patches, except I think blotters are more likely from a realistic standpoint.

We're seeing this already with benzos.

 

[arrall]

We're seeing this already with benzos.

The Yakuza distributes benzo patches to the general public? Goddamn, shit in America sure has changed since the last time I was there.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I predict the fulfillment of William Gibson's Neuromancer.

i only remember it very vaguely but based on that i really hope you are incorrect

 

[andyturbo]

i only remember it very vaguely but based on that i really hope you are incorrect

I dont underestimate the Yakuza at all but as things stand atm hypothetically that's going to be a very very long time If they ever had a chance of out powering the N'drangheta.